By KELLY LOUISEIZE
After 10 years of having laker vessels scrapped for parts, Steve Allen hopes Canadian companies will begin following Europe’s lead.
The general manager of Pascol Engineering in Thunder Bay wants to see more new ships built in this country.
“We have to start building new vessels, so we can keep the trade going,” Allen says.
There is a boom in world shipping right now and the traditionally popular yards in Asia and Europe are full. It has created an opportunity for Canadian shipyards to get into the market, says Charlie Payne, the business development manager of the Port Weller Dry Docks. Port Weller and Pascol are both subsidiaries of St. Catharines-based Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Ltd.
“We partnered with Peter Kampen shipyards, which has more orders than they could fulfill,” Payne says.
Port Weller have signed up to build to bare hulls (everything except engines and accommodation) and six 6,500-ton multi-purpose, short-sea shipping vessels from scratch.
Each British-owned vessel, priced under $20 million, will sail with a Dutch flag.
Occasionally, The Thunder Bay operation will accept overflow work from Port Weller, but its mandate is to repair existing vessels.
Europe is experiencing considerable highway and railway congestion. Support from the European Union made trading on the waterways and coasts much more possible. In fact, it has become such a success that many believe the same method can be duplicated here in North America. But Canada will not witness any marine development so long as Prime Minister Paul Martin is at the helm, Payne says. It presents a perceived conflict of interest, since his family owns Canada Steamship Lines.
“That has contributed significantly to the downturn in shipping in Canada,” says Payne. “If government does anything for the industry, the press just attacks him.”
Europe marine transportation provided a solution for congestion and Canada will eventually rise with the tide and follow their lead, Payne says. This will mean continued activity for Port Weller.
Pascol Engineering repairs seaway vessels up to 740 feet long. Its year-round shipyard can dock more than one vessel because of the bubbling system that keeps the water from freezing during the winter months. Allen expects the next couple of years to be busy as several ships are due to be dry-docked for surveys.
Ships built in Canada have to be dry-docked every five years for a thorough inspection.
At full capacity, 150 employees in Thunder Bay work on more than 13 ships annually. An estimated 95 per cent of Allen’s business comes from Canada Steamship Lines, Algoma Central Marine and Upper Lakes Shipping. Foreign ship repairs make up the remainder.
“Winter is coming and that is our busiest time,” Allen says.
“We will have four or five vessels here over the winter.”
Two, 35,000-square feet, machine shops provide shelter for ship repair, but also allow for forestry and mining machine fabrications or repairs.
Rebuilding ships by saving the engine room and installing a new cargo hold is currently part of Port Weller’s activity. Pascol has historically fabricated parts to help their southern Ontario counterparts.
Shipping in the Great Lakes has been quite depressed in recent months, Payne says, laying part of the blame on tolls and fees on foreign vessels entering the St. Lawrence Seaway. But a campaign currently underway is promoting the waterway worldwide and bringing smaller vessels into Canadian waters, he says.
A reduction in toll fees is helping as well.
